Teun Verbruggen, Steven Delannoye, Nathan Wouters, Bram de Looze, André Fernandes - Chasing Penguins (2019)

Chasing Penguins
Teun Verbruggen: Drums
André Fernandes: Guitar
Steven Delannoye: Sax
Bram De Looze: Piano
Nathan Wouters: Bas

Drummer Teun Verbruggen (°1975) is a very dedicated and active member of the Belgian jazz scene. He graduated in 1999 as ‘Master in Music/jazz’ at the Conservatory of Brussels.His quest for a special touch and fresh sounds as well as his desire to explore different styles and ways of playing drums, made him work as a sideman of Jef Neve Trio, Flat Earth Society, Alexi Tuomarila 4tet, Karanova,… He also shared the stage with musicians as Paolo Fresu, Uri Cain, Jimi Tenor, Toots Thielemans, Fred Vanhove, Trevor Dunn, Magic Malik, John Watts (Fischer Z), Louis Clavis, Diederik Wissels, David Lynx, Kevin Armstrong (Iggy Pop),... After an endless list of sideman-jobs, he realized that the craving for his own project just kept on increasing. He discovered Mike Patton's Fantômas, Alas No Axis and Jim Black, and dove head first into punk, noise and free. His soul search brought him to GOWK, VVG trio and the unlikely Othin Spake, an impro band with guitarist Mauro Pawlowski (from the band dEUS) and Rhodes specialist Jozef Dumoulin.
In 2003 Teun Verbruggen and his companion Bruno Vansina founded the label ‘Rat Records’ on which they release ‘Rare And Treacherous’ musical jewels. As the artistic director of ‘Rat Event’ Teun Verbruggen strives for more visibility and concerts for free and improvised music.

André Fernandes was born in Lisbon, Portugal.
He is a very active guitar player having played/recorded with musicians like Lee Konitz, Mário Laginha, Chris Cheek, Maria João, Cyro Baptista, Ohad Talmor, Tomasz Stanko, Bernardo Sassetti, Dan Weiss, Pete Rende, Bill McHenry, Jochen Rueckert, Perico Sambeat, Jeff Ballard, Julian Arguelles, David Binney, AviShai Cohen, Eli Degibri, Jorge Rossy, Carlos Barreto, Akiko Pavolka, Jarmo Savolainen, Phil Markowitz and João Paulo Esteves da Silva, amongst many others.
He is a regular member of the Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos (OJM) with whom he has worked with Maria Schneider, Mark Turner, Joshua Redman, Maria João, John Hollenbeck and Maria Rita, to name a few.
He has played extensively in Europe, the USA, South America and Africa. He was a member and did a number of tours with the Lee Konitz New Nonet, as well as with singer Maria João´s group, and alto Perico Sambeat´s group.
He has several released albums s a leader, and has played on more than 40 records to date.
His latest record, for british label Edition Records, is called “Dream Keeper” and features Perico Sambeat, Alexi Tuomarila, Demian Cabaud and Iago Fernandez.

Bram De Looze
Belgian pianist and composer Bram De Looze (°1991, Knokke-Heist) founds his way to music throughout his teens. In 2007 he starts off with LABtrio together with drummer Lander Gyselinck and bassist Anneleen Boehme. In its early existence, several prizes and awards give LABtrio new opportunities as in 2013 when the prestigious Tremplin Jazz d’Avignon festival pulls off a first album recording ‘Fluxus’. The 2015 album ‘The Howls Are Not What They Seem’ and 2017 album ‘Nature City’ represent their ongoing high level of musical experience.
Based in Brussels, Bram De Looze is a jack of many trades who travels and performs frequently with Piano e Forte, LABtrio, Robin Verheyen duo, and multiple ensembles alongside Dre Hocevar, Stephanos Chytiris, Stephane Galland, Samuel Ber, Mark Schilders, Antoine Pierre.
Recently he was granted a SABAM Jazz Award for 'Young Talent' at the Gent Jazz Festival.

Nathan Wouters
Nathan Wouters (°1989) was born into a musical family.
At the age of 10 he started to attend classical bass lessons at the Academy for Music, Drama and Dance in Merksem under the guidance of Lode Leire. At the age of fourteen he led the bass section of the Orchestra of Jeunesses Musicales Antwerp directed by Ivo Venkov. In 2004, he won the 1st price in the “Music Live competition” organized by Jeunesses Musicales Flanders which enabled him to make a concert tour in Croatia. Three years later he completed his classical bass training with greatest distinction and he continued his education at the jazz department of the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp with Piet Verbist and Nicolas Thys. In 2009 he received the 'Oranjebeurs’ granted by The Dutch Community Antwerp.
Nathan studied his last year at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) where his teacher was Anders Jormin, and has finished his master degree with greatest distinction. He worked with several professional musicians such as Mark Turner, Dave Douglas, Hilmar Jensson, Aki Takase, Rudi Mahall, Kris Davis, Alexi Tuomarila, John Ruocco, Kurt Van Herck, Dré Pallemaerts, Bert Joris, Erwin Vann, Ben Sluijs, Jeroen Van Herzeele, Joachim Badenhorst, Nicola Andrioli, Erik Vermeulen, Jozef Dumoulin, Teun Verbruggen, Giovanni Barcella, Marek Patrman, Erik Thielemans, William Hooker, … Besides on the main Belgian stages (Jazz Middelheim, De Singel, De Roma, AB, Bozar, De Bijloke,…), Nathan also performed in China, Chili, Mexico, Japan, Croatia, Ukraine, Sweden, Germany, France, Portugal, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and Italy.

Steven Delannoye
After his musical studies in Belgium and performing with European leading artists and ensembles such as Eric Vloeimans, Stéphane Belmondo, Jakob Bro, Bert Joris, Toots Thielemans and the Brussels Jazz Orchestra, saxophonist Steven Delannoye was selected to attend the prestigious Manhattan School of Music in New York. At MSM he worked intensively with pianist Phil Markowitz who shared his experiences of playing together with the great Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano and Dave Liebman of the saxophone summit.

Current projects of Delannoye are his New York ‘working’ Trio, with international guests, and a contemporary chamber jazz duet with classical and improv cellist Lode Vercampt. 2012-2014 Steven is an artist in residence of the University K.U.Leuven.

All around Steven is known for his modern sound and energetic, yet sophisticated interplay.

01. Teun Verbruggen, Steven Delannoye, Nathan Wouters, Bram de Looze, André Fernandes - Dragao (9:34)
02. Teun Verbruggen, Steven Delannoye, Nathan Wouters, Bram de Looze, André Fernandes - Elon Musk Go (7:13)
03. Teun Verbruggen, Steven Delannoye, Nathan Wouters, Bram de Looze, André Fernandes - Uphill (6:39)
04. Teun Verbruggen, Steven Delannoye, Nathan Wouters, Bram de Looze, André Fernandes - 300 Pesoas (6:19)
05. Teun Verbruggen, Steven Delannoye, Nathan Wouters, Bram de Looze, André Fernandes - Inhale (11:05)
06. Teun Verbruggen, Steven Delannoye, Nathan Wouters, Bram de Looze, André Fernandes - Lotus (6:16)
07. Teun Verbruggen, Steven Delannoye, Nathan Wouters, Bram de Looze, André Fernandes - Free Penguins (5:44)